Reliant Energy Solutions 
President Jim Ajello

Defining Success in Competitive Electric Markets – The Reliant Energy Story

An insider’s view of three turbulent years in the electric industry. The challenges and successes of a company created specifically to compete in deregulated markets. The successful opening of Texas retail electric market to competition and what it has meant for customers.

Jim Ajello is president of Reliant Energy Solutions, a retail energy company that helps large commercial, industrial and institutional clients optimize the value of their energy spending by reducing costs, managing price risks and improving operating efficiencies. He joined Reliant Energy in November 2000. In this position, Ajello is responsible for all aspects of Reliant Energy Solutions operations, including front and back office functions, and serves on the company’s Management Committee and as chairman of the Benefits Committee.

Reliant Energy Solutions is a subsidiary of Reliant Resources Inc. Based in Houston , Texas , Reliant Resources provides electricity and energy services to retail and wholesale customers in the U.S. , marketing those services under the Reliant Energy brand name.  The company provides a complete suite of energy products and services to approximately 1.7 million electricity customers in Texas ranging from residences and small businesses to large commercial, industrial and institutional customers.  Reliant also serves large commercial and industrial clients in the PJM (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland) Interconnection. 

Before joining Reliant Energy, Ajello was vice president of Enron North America, based in Houston , where he was responsible for a team originating business with large industrial clients. Previously, he was based in New York as managing director of the Energy & Natural Resources Group of UBS Warburg, the investment-banking arm of Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS). His client base included oil and gas exploration and production companies, pipelines and mining companies in North America . Prior to this assignment, Ajello was managing director and manager of UBS Chicago for four years and before that was head of the UBS North American project finance team. Including previous work at U.S. Synthethic Fuels Corporation in Washington , D.C. , he has over 20 years of finance and management experience in the chemicals, refining, energy and natural resources sectors.

Ajello is chairman of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Advisory Board. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York and a master’s from Syracuse University .  In addition, he is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) in Fountainebleau , France .